Hello, I downloaded your Xacti CG9 clip 640x480 at 60fps and could read it using WinXP on aold Pentium 4 dualthread 2.8GHz , eating about 50% CPU power using SMPlayer in full screen.

The 60fps rendering is excellent,much more like an uncompressed DV coming from a SD machine, absolutely no hiccup nor thesmallest timing abnormality.

Resolution and precision seem to be equal to a SD DV camcorderentry-level,equipped with a 1/6 inch CCDsensor. But I agree the scene is a difficult one, with the focus between the very close child head and the quite distant grass.

Sound is excellent, with no noise coming from a tape transport or a hard disk. This is a massive advantage in favour of suchflash memory recording technology.

Just a regret : do you confirm the Xacti CG9cannot deliver a 16:10 format like 768x480 ?

I've been trying to figure out why the CG9 mp4's wont show up on iMovie08 as full video.
I have a new Casio camera Exlim S1000 that records Quicktime avc1Decoder, AAC - .mov
I am able to export with no trouble to iMovie08 but again when using the .MP4 Xacti CG9 it only imports half of the video only. There is nothing in preferences which indicate I would need to change a setting.

So, no HD for the CG9. This isbecause the sensors are currently in 4:3 format, so any 16:9 use would results in cropping hence wasted pixels.

Must say the current HD models from Sanyo (HD700 and HD1000) are wasting a lot of pixels, at the sensor level, just because of that.

But what ifa new 16:9 sensor does appear, say 9 million pixel gross ? Such sensor would bein the1/2.5form factor, this in order to reuse the consumer digicam optics,including somefolded opticsforcompacity.

The roadmap seemspromising. Sanyo has now established a viable and proven standard. The other brands providing HD solutions using theAVCHD standard should realize they have put themselves into a dead end with AVCHD.

The big marketchange will occur when Sanyo will use such 16:9 1/2.5 CMOS sensor. Using asensor of 3840 x 2160 pixels (9 megapixel gross) will enable9 megapixel stills. Like the CG9 is offering, like many digicams are offering, but this time in 16:9 format. Andinvideo mode, the same9 megapixel frames would beresized in realtime at 60fps or 30fps in hardware using custom logic, delivering a 1920 x 1080 format corresponding to full HD.

We can expect the successors of the HD700 and HD1000 being built like this.

And, starting from there,let us imagine somelow cost variants, usinga16:9 CMOS sensor designed for 720p, that would use standardphotosite sizes, so the sensor may enable smaller optical assemblies and lower cost.The size would be about 1/3.75 inch. Therewould be2560 x 1440 pixels (4 megapixel). So we can expect awhole range of inexpensive cameras providing a true 16:9 format, with stills of 4 megapixel and quality 720p video. Selling price would fall below 150 dollars when equipped with a entry-levelx5 zoom and no antishake. Selling price about 250 dollars when equipped with a x10 zoom and antishake.Selling price about 300 dollars when equipped with a x20 zoom and antishake.

So as a conclusion, there would be two sorts of 16:9 camcorders. Low costHD camcorders would be720p video using theCMOS 1/3.75 inch 4 megapixel sensor, starting from 150 dollar. And full HD camcorders would be 1080i and 1080p video using theCMOS 1/2.5 inch 9 megapixel sensor, starting from 300 dollar.SDcard will then be32GB standard. Progresses in lowpower drain would then enable more than4 hours battery life.

Future looks bright ! Sanyo is paving the way !Casio sould soon do the same. Those two brands have nothing to lose in bringing upthat change. Then all the others like Sony,Canon, JVC,Panasonic and Samsung will follow.

Then starting from this, we'll see the megapixel race taking place again with 3x3 hardware binning, then4x4 hardware binning at the chip level.One should remember that a 3x3 binningwould need9 megapixel gross for the 720p 1/3.75 inch CMOS sensor and 20 megapixel gross for the 1080i/p 1/2.5 inch CMOS sensor. Seems feasible in 3 years. At the same time one could expectthe introduction of bigger high quality1080i/p 1/1.8 inch CMOS sensors providing 2x2 binning, with improved sensitivity. And of course, there would be some brandsproposingtri-CMOS prosumer camcorders, this in order to offer the best quality using theirsmallest optics.

Sanyo needs to realize that its competitors are recording continuously for longer than 40 minutes at a time by automatically opening/closing new files at the 4GB boundary. This is a real killer, limiting the HD1000 to 'short' video clips only, not suitable for documentary work (eg one hour+ speeches/press conferences).